Pennsylvania General Assembly
Session of 2026
Printer’s No. ___
DRAFT
AN ACT
Amending the laws of this Commonwealth; defining legal personhood for purposes of health, bodily autonomy, and civic protection based on independent biological homeostasis; clarifying the scope of governmental jurisdiction in matters of personal health; preserving bodily autonomy prior to independent biological personhood; and providing for severability and repeal of inconsistent provisions.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Short title.
This act shall be known and may be cited as the Independent Biological Personhood Act.
Section 2. Legislative findings and declarations.
The General Assembly finds and declares as follows:
(1) Civil law requires definitions that are observable, measurable and uniformly administrable across all jurisdictions of this Commonwealth.
(2) The determination of legal personhood must be based on objectively verifiable biological conditions rather than philosophical, theological or metaphysical standards.
(3) Independent biological homeostasis constitutes a measurable and administrable threshold at which an individual exists as a separate biological entity under the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth.
(4) Prior to the establishment of independent biological homeostasis, biological functions are sustained by another biological system and do not constitute a separate, independent legal person.
(5) The purpose of civil law is to govern relationships between independent persons and to protect the bodily autonomy, liberty and life of those persons.
(6) Advances in medical and biological science establish that an organism is not biologically independent until it is capable of sustaining homeostasis separate from another biological body.
(7) Prior to independent biological homeostasis, a developing organism relies entirely on another individual for oxygenation, circulation, metabolic regulation, immune function and waste elimination.
(8) Governmental authority applies only to independent persons and not to dependent biological processes occurring within another individual.
(9) Compelling one individual to sustain another biological process through risk to their own health or bodily integrity constitutes a violation of personal autonomy.
(10) The Commonwealth has a compelling interest in protecting bodily autonomy, medical decision-making and freedom from compelled biological service.
(11) A biological body that does not maintain independent homeostasis is not a separate, independent organism for purposes of civil jurisdiction.
(12) Prior to independent biological homeostasis, a developing organism sustained within another individual’s body has no independent civic existence and cannot possess a separate legal identity.
(13) Independent respiration or equivalent systemic function at birth constitutes the first biological event at which a human organism operates its own circulatory and respiratory systems separate from another individual.
Section 3. Definitions.
The following words and phrases when used in this act shall have the meanings given to them in this section:
“Biologically dependent organism.”
An organism that:
(1) Exists entirely within the body of another individual; and
(2) Relies on the circulatory, respiratory, metabolic or regulatory systems of that individual for life-sustaining function.
“Independent biological homeostasis.”
The demonstrated ability of an organism to sustain life through its own biological systems without reliance on the biological systems of another individual.
Section 4. Independent biological personhood.
(a) Recognition.—
An individual shall be recognized as a legal person only upon the establishment of independent biological homeostasis.
(b) Establishment.—
Independent biological homeostasis is established when an organism:
(1) Exists outside the body of another individual; and
(2) Begins operating its own systemic biological functions, including:
(i) Respiratory function.
(ii) Circulatory function.
(iii) Metabolic regulation.
(iv) Neurological coordination sufficient to sustain systemic function.
(c) Assisted function.—
Independent biological homeostasis shall be considered established where the organism:
(1) Exists external to the body of another individual;
(2) Has initiated its own systemic biological functions; and
(3) Maintains those functions independently or with the assistance of medical technology.
(d) Legal effect.—
Upon establishment, the organism shall:
(1) Be recognized as a separate biological system; and
(2) Be recognized as a legal person under the civil jurisdiction of the Commonwealth.
(e) Continuity.—
Legal personhood shall continue without interruption and shall not be revoked or diminished on the basis of illness, injury, disability or reliance on medical technology.
(f) Status prior to threshold.—
A biologically dependent organism shall not be recognized as a separate legal person.
Section 5. Scope of governmental jurisdiction.
(a) General rule.—
The Commonwealth shall exercise jurisdiction and legal protection only over independent persons.
(b) Limitation.—
Biological processes occurring within the body of an individual that have not achieved independent biological homeostasis shall not be considered separate legal persons.
(c) Protection of the independent person.—
No law shall assign legal rights, duties or obligations to a biologically dependent organism that supersede or diminish the rights of the individual within whose body the biological process occurs.
Section 6. Protection of bodily autonomy.
(a) Medical decision-making.—
All medical decisions related to pregnancy prior to independent biological personhood shall reside exclusively with the individual whose body sustains the biological process.
(b) Prohibition on compelled biological service.—
No individual shall be compelled by law to sustain, maintain or risk their health or life for the biological benefit of another organism that has not achieved independent biological personhood.
(c) Medical professionals.—
Medical professionals shall not be subject to liability for providing care consistent with this section.
Section 7. Neutrality of medical regulation.
(a) This act does not mandate, prohibit, encourage or discourage any specific medical procedure.
(b) This act establishes jurisdictional clarity only and shall be applied neutrally across all belief systems.
(c) Nothing in this act shall interfere with voluntary medical decisions.
Section 8. Relationship to existing law.
(a) Any law inconsistent with this act is superseded.
(b) This act shall be interpreted consistently with constitutional protections of liberty, privacy and due process.
(c) Legal personhood, once established, shall not be revoked based on subsequent loss of function.
Section 9. Noninterference with post-birth protections.
(a) Upon establishment of independent biological personhood, all protections afforded to persons under the laws of this Commonwealth shall apply fully.
(b) Nothing in this act shall diminish protections for infants, children or dependent persons following birth.
Section 10. Enforcement and construction.
(a) The Commonwealth may recognize a future or conditional person for limited legal purposes. Such recognition shall not authorize the Commonwealth to compel one independent person to use their biological systems to sustain another organism.
(b) Any asserted state interest in a future or conditional person shall be subordinate to the bodily autonomy, health and systemic integrity of the independent person.
(c) No legal protection for a future or conditional person may be enforced in a manner that requires the involuntary use of another person’s organs, circulation, metabolism or biological functions.
(d) No criminal or civil penalty shall be imposed based on conduct occurring prior to independent biological personhood.
(e) Courts shall construe this act liberally to protect bodily autonomy and narrowly to avoid compelled biological service.
(f) No inference of intent shall be drawn beyond the express language of this act.
(g) This act shall control in any case of conflict involving the definition of personhood or jurisdiction over biological processes.
Section 11. Severability.
The provisions of this act are severable. If any provision or application is held invalid, the remaining provisions shall remain in effect.
Section 12. Effective date.
This act shall take effect immediately upon enactment.
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